Concealed Carry Tips You Probably Forgot

There are a ton of resources out there for anyone looking to get the most out of carrying a concealed handgun. Reviews for the newest carry pistols, holsters, and gadgets are always popular, and there are plenty of training schools and shooting sports to help you hone your skills. We like all of that stuff as much as the next guy, but we also recognize that while it’s fun to talk about gear, training, and shooting techniques, it’s not always practical for everyone to immediately put that stuff into action.

So if you’re not sitting on a ton of cash and free time, rather than tell you “tough luck”, we’re passing along a few easy, practical concealed carry tips that you can use now. These are the kind of seemingly obvious aspects of concealed carry that probably got a brief mention in your carry permit class, but you may not have given them any serious thought since then. So if time and money (or maybe winter weather) are keeping you away from the range, these reminders can still help you maximize the potential of your self-defense readiness.

Check out our video below for an explanation and demonstration of today’s tips. The rest of the post provides some additional details and links to resources for further reading.

(Pro Tip: Every Lucky Gunner Lounge video has a closed captioning icon in the top left corner in case you don’t want to hear me yap through the whole thing.)

Three Free and Fast Concealed Carry Tips

Concealed Carry TipsIf you carry a concealed handgun on a regular basis, it’s really important that you get lots of practice and training and that the handgun you’re carrying is quality, reliable firearm. Lot of people complain that stuff is time-consuming or expensive. So I’ve got a couple of quick tips for you today that can help you maximize the potential of your carry gun. And they don’t cost anything. And they take very little time. We’re going to do three today. And if you like this kind of thing, let me know and we’ll try to find more of them in the future. So number one is to just do a function check on your carry gun. What I mean by that is once a week or so, unload your carry gun, and point it in a safe direction, and just dry-fire it a few times. Work the slide. Or open the cylinder. Just check it out. What happens is a lot of us will go to the range on a regular basis, or fairly frequently. And we’ll shoot our full-size guns. But the carry guns get left behind. And we don’t shoot them that often. But we’re carrying them almost every day. So they can build up dirt, and grime, and sweat. Or all kinds of other stuff gets on the gun. And we don’t even notice. So the gun could be broken, or in a state that’s not fit to fire. And we wouldn’t even know because we’re not looking at it very often. So just function check your gun. Give it a once over. Give it a couple of drops of lube, even if you’re not going to clean it. And just make sure your gun is ready to fight. The last thing you want to do is have to use your gun to save your life and it doesn’t work, and not because it’s a crappy gun, but because you were negligent and didn’t maintain it. So function check is number one. Number two is to just think about where on your body you carry your gun, and how easily accessible it really is throughout the day in different situations. We usually will practise our draw stroke at the range when we’re standing up, facing the target. And that’s all well and good. But what about if we were sitting down, or if we were in a cramped elevator, or a cramped bathroom stall, or something like that? There are tons of scenarios we could be in where we couldn’t get to our gun quite as easily. What if you got knocked down on the ground? And there’s always going to be situations where you just won’t be able to get to it. But you want to mitigate that by just mentally going through the different types of situations you could get into and think, what if, and how could I get my gun if. And just fill in the blank with different scenarios and different situations that you’re likely to encounter. One thing that I’ve done, as a result of this, is when I’m driving, I put my seat belt on. I usually don’t have my shirt tucked in. So I will pull my shirt tail out from under the seat belt and lay it on top of the seat belt. And that way, if I have to draw my gun while I’m in the car, I’m not trying to pull the shirt from under the seat belt. I just lift my shirt tail. And my gun is right here on my hip. And so I can get to it fairly easily. That’s a really simple thing. But it’s something I would never have thought of if I hadn’t just gone through those different scenarios mentally and taken the time to do that. It’s not very time-consuming. But it’s really important. So accessibility’s number two. Number three is to maximize the potential capacity of your carry gun. A lot of our carry guns are fairly small, or have a small capacity of six, seven, eight rounds. Don’t sell yourself short by leaving out that extra round that you can get in the chamber. It might seem obvious. But it’s something that a lot of people skip just because of the few extra seconds it takes. So when you’re loading you’re gun in the morning, or whenever you put it on to carry it, just put in the full mag. Chamber the round. And then take the extra few seconds to take out the magazine, put the gun down, and top off the magazine so you get that one extra round. It might not seem like a lot. But if you’re only carrying eight rounds to begin with, having nine might make a difference. If you have to use your gun to save your life, you want every possible advantage you can get. So don’t sell yourself short by just skipping over that one extra step that takes a few minutes. If you want to make it even easier on yourself, use what we call a Barney mag. And that’s where you just take a second magazine that you only have one round loaded into it. You load that first to get the round into the chamber. And then you put your full mag in after that. That way, you’re not having to try and top off a full magazine with a really tight spring in it. That’s just one extra little thing you can do to maximize the capability of your carry gun. All right, that’s all the concealed carry tips I have for today. If you’ve got anything to add, or if you want to see more of these in the future, let us know in the comments.

1. Weekly Inspection and Function Check

The video shows how to do a quick function check of your carry gun every week, but just in case you’re wondering “is this really necessary?”, take a look atthis post from a few weeks ago. The revolver shown there had been carried around for days even though it was completely non-functional. The problem was internal, and would only have been made apparent by attempting to fire or dry-fire the gun. There are also plenty of reported cases of carry guns with corrosion damage from sweat, or pocket lint that could obstruct the action or barrel of a carry gun.

Even if your gun handles the neglect with no ill effects, what about the holster? A worn out holster may not hold the gun securely, or could even cause an accidental discharge. Ammo isn’t safe from wear and tear, either. A round that is repeatedly chambered and cleared day after day will start to exhibit problems, too. Check for bullet setback and deformation of the rim and case body.

There are plenty of resources online if you need a checklist for inspecting your carry gun’s basic mechanical function. Add to any of these lists a simple visual inspection of the firearm’s exterior to spot-check for dirt, debris, corrosion, or broken parts. It doesn’t take much to develop a fairly quick but comprehensive inspection routine. Performing this check regularly will reveal the vast majority of issues that could potentially disable your gun at the worst possible moment.

2. Accessibility

If you ever have to defend yourself, there’s a really good chance you won’t see the danger coming, and will have literally just one or two seconds to react. What happens if you’re taken off guard, and need to draw your gun while quickly backing away from an attacker, pushed up against a wall, knocked to the ground, or sitting in a cramped booth at a restaurant? Does the draw stroke that you practice at the range from a relaxed standing position still work in these scenarios? How accessible would your gun be if an attacker’s first move was to step out from behind a parked car and shove you to the ground while you’re carrying an armful of grocery bags? These are the kind of situations when we’re most vulnerable and look like easy targets, so they’re the first kind of situations to consider when contemplating the viability of a given concealed carry method.

Action pistol competition is an excellent way to become exposed to unconventional shooting positions. This stage at the 2012 IDPA Nationals required competitiors to fire at targets while laying down on a swing.

One of the best ways to counter the disadvantage of this kind of vulnerability is through practicing the draw stroke from various unconventional positions on a regular basis, both at the range and through dry-fire drills. But even if that’s too time consuming for you, at the very least you can spend some mental energy on contemplating the different body positions you might end up in when you have to draw.

I’m not suggesting you allow your everyday life to be consumed by contemplating every possible “what if” that comes to mind, because you’ll never be able to plan for every contingency. On the other hand, if you spend the majority of the day sitting down, for example, and your carry gun is in a holster behind your hip that you can’t reach when you’re in a chair, maybe it’s time to think about how you might work around that. Oftentimes, a solution is as simple as changing the direction you face your chair, but it could also mean a complete re-thinking of your carry method and gear. It just depends on your specific situation.

The important point is to at least give a little thought to the “what ifs” to uncover the most obvious flaws in your self-defense plans. There’s always more you can do to become better prepared, but this mental exercise requires very little effort compared to the potential benefits of the “I never thought of that!” moments.

3. Maximize Capacity

Most people I talk to who carry every day seem to favor carrying a small gun the majority of the time. They may occasionally pack something like a Glock 19 or a 1911, but more common are sub-compact, single-stack semi-autos. With such limited capacity available in these guns, it’s really surprising to hear that many of these folks don’t top off their magazines after loading their gun for carry. If you’re stuck with only seven or eight rounds in the magazine, it just makes sense to endure the few extra seconds it takes to eject the magazine after you load the chamber, and fill the mag back up to full capacity to give you that +1 in your low-capacity pistol.

Carrying a semi-auto without topping off the magazine makes about as much sense as leaving an empty chamber in a modern double-action revolver.

The best stats we have available suggest that, regardless of caliber, an average of 2-3 handgun rounds to a vital area are required to incapacitate an attacker. On top of that, it’s estimated that most people are only about 50% as accurate under the stress of combat as they are on the range. And that’s one of the more optimistic figures you’ll run into. So let’s suppose the magazine in your pistol has a six-round capacity and you don’t bother topping it off after you chamber a round. If you’re attacked and It takes three shots to stop the bad guy, you’re leaving exactly zero room for a “below average” kind of day for marksmanship. Oh yeah, and what if there are two bad guys?

I know not everyone can or will always carry a gun with higher capacity. I personally carry small guns sometimes myself. But it’s a calculated risk, and I know I’m making a compromise by doing so in order to carry a gun I can effectively and comfortably conceal. I certainly don’t want to compromise any further by failing to load the one extra round my gun can hold just because I couldn’t spare the extra second or two. Loading the extra round doesn’t cost anything in comfort or concealability — all I lose is a little time. There is simply no logic to the mentality that says, “I can’t conceal a gun with a 15 round mag, so I might as well just stick this 7-rounder in my gun and be done with it”. Eight is still a lot less than 15, but it might be the one extra round that makes all the difference in the world.

One quick word of caution: This is all assuming that your gun does not exhibit any reliability issues when loaded to +1 capacity. Make sure you test this at the range, and don’t carry +1 if it causes your pistol to experience any malfunctions that it would not have otherwise.

Any Concealed Carry Tips We Missed?

Have you been carrying a while and have some other strategies that are both free/cheap and quick to implement? If so, sound off in the comments below, and maybe we’ll mention it in a future post.

Do you top-off the magazine in your carry pistol?

Yes. I carry with a loaded chamber and a magazine filled to capacity. - 71% ( )

Yes, but I carry with a full mag and an empty chamber. - 15% ( )

Ain't nobody got time for that! I chamber a round and leave the magazine loaded with one round less than full capacity. - 7% ( )

No, I don't want to wear out my magazine springs and/or my gun doesn't run reliably with a full mag loaded on a closed chamber. - 4% ( )

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Leave a Comment Below

Great tips! I really like that your video was captioned as I am hard of hearing. Makes learning much easier.

LG Chris

Thanks Joyce, glad you enjoyed it. We always like knowing when people find the CC option useful.

Shirl Greenberg

Great to know I am doing things right!!!!!

George Schoelles

STOP Useing the Slide Release….Gezus

LG Chris

Why?

Tyler Bock

If you are going to have him do that, at least call it a slide stop haha

Ben Giordano

yes—enjoyed it

Cinda Lewis Miller

Thanks for the tips!!

Edward A. Mangrum

Great tips. Please do many more.

Russell McCune

Hey good tips, but have you checked your total length of the bullet that you cycle thru your weapon over and over? I have found that repeated cycling causes the bullet to be pushed down into the shell, eventually causing feed issues.

LG Chris

Yep, I mentioned that under point #1: “Check for bullet setback and deformation of the rim and case body.”

Russell McCune

LG Chris oops, I guess I could read also, all I did was watch the video. Thanks, better that I realized. Good Luck

Mordechai Nahum Rabinowitz

a) move the repeatedly fed cart to training case after 3 chamberings, if you have this problém. BTW it’s probably the only real problem of Lapua CEPP.

b) get quality carry ammo. for example, the Sellier&Bellot (who produces ammo for Federal, BTW), just because of this issue introduced bullets GLUED into the case throat in addition to tapering the case. never had a bullet pushed in since. if you’re legally restricted to FMJ (like we are), then in 9mm Luger I can recmmend their 139 grain truncated cone subsonics.

Dwayne Martin

Yes I enjoyed the tips and found them useful. Please keep them coming.

Ward Shute

As a Law Enforcement Officer carrying a semi-auto, I rotate my mags in the weapons, primary and back-up. I always carry a spare mag

Great stuff. I shared it to my self-defense company FB page as well. Keep this stuff coming!

Gary Greeny

You might mention the option to also carry 2 extra magazines, (loaded of course), and most importantly to practice the process of shooting, dropping the mag, reloading, and firing. This requires practice, practice, and then more practice.

Errol Best

I always carry 2 extra hi-cap mags…both turned the SAME way so I can load by feel and not have to look at them….

John Norvell

Thanks for the great tips!

Jackie Slimmer Langholz

Good tips.

Vicki Herrill

Love the tips …ty

Brenda Blanton

Great tips. Especially like the reminder about accessibility.

Nancy Jo Long

Great tips. Please post more. Thanks.

Dana Kay Brenner

Love these tips! Great video, please post more when you can.

Jerry Ammann

if you must carry with a empty chamber under the hammer at least load a spent cartage in it so as cushion the firing pin if it drooped

Not only carry an extra mag but a back up pistol. In cases of more than one attacker and no time to install the extra mag

Mikerbike

This time of year (Winter) I continue to carry a G19, but back that up with a .380. Wearing a heavy winter coat it can be tough to find the gun in a hurry. The .390 pocket pistol rides well in my coat pocket and easy to reach. I just don’t hang up my coat in a restaurant… Both are loaded with one in the chamber.

Craig Washu

it was well done and would like to see different topics as well…thanks

Lynn Schmidtke Seigler

Great tips, thanks

David Haralson

My carry is a Bulldog that has five bites and is prepared for all five……………..

Terry Riebling

I will never carry a “convenient” sidearm. I carried a Colt 1911 for 40 years, switched to a S&W 9mm M&P, became disabled and now carry a Bersa, 15 round, .380 with Hydra-Shok ammunition in the magazine – and a spare magazine. I accept the reduction in power of each round and know that in a real fight (I’ve been in three,.) my accuracy is no where near what I do on the range. If I miss 50% of the time with this pistol I need only 6 rounds to incapacitate the assailant, leaving me 10 rounds to deal with another bad guy without changing magazines – assuming 15 in the magazine and one in the chamber when the balloon goes up. Keep up the good work – and your service is the best I have ever encountered.

J. Terry Riebling – Author: Seal Warrior – Sniper’e Eyes

Scott Parmelee

Great tips. Keep them up. On a side note I would never carry a gun that was not 100 % reliable. If it has an issue with plus 1 it would not be my carry gun.

Frank Guemmer

Excellent tips! More please?

Jerry Ornstein

Great tips!! keep ’em coming…I carry a Ruger LCP every day and will now start topping off the magazine. I also occasionally carry my S&W M&P 9MM, that one I top off.

Gene Ruryk

I like that S&W M&P 9MM.

Mike Moritz

Awesome vid with common sense tips that i didn’t even think of. Like topping off my mag, #BONUSROUND!
Great job and would love any future tips you can give.

Michael Heider

G17 gen 4. No fucks or restictions given.

Evon Shires

Good info…please do more!

Mordechai Nahum Rabinowitz

maybe some folks need to be reminded that, unlike mid-fight, at home you have all the time of the universe to make your gun ready for duty. you’re at a safe place where nobody is shooting at you, at the warm comfort of your place, with all the ammo you have in the vault, and topping up the mag only takes like 5 seconds. is THAT really worth putting any extra risk against your LIFE and lives of your beloved?

Bob Gardiner

Good job would like more

Bethany Crawford

I travel with two mags for S&W M&P 9mm Shield. Never without them!

Annie Truden

I liked the shirt tip. Do the other two. More tips would be great!! Always up for learning more. I carry the xd subcompact 9I’m. I chose it for the caliber and the mag capacity and I carry the other mag loaded

Ulfr Dokkr

Good tips.
If I might add a couple more. ..
Get empty handed(martial art/self defense) training. A gun is a distance weapon, if your attacker is actually on top of or shoved up against you, you need to be able to extricate yourself from that position. Drawing a gun in that position increases the risk of it being used against you.
Secondly, carry a back up weapon. Or two or three. And learn how to use anything and everything as either a weapon, a shield or a distraction. In the above positions, a pocket or boot knife, keys, ink pen, even the pointed spine of a paperback book properly applied can give you the moment and distance needed to get to your firearm.
Dependence on the gun alone is foolish.

Vickie Lutz Jamison

Yes..alot of info

Thomas Fess

I have a summer carry and a winter carry. Summer = kel-tec PF9 – full mag, not chambered. I have kids and its just an extra precaution for me. I practice chambering in my draw. Winter = Glock 26 w/Xgrip + G19 15rd mag. I always carry an extra full magazine. I fully understand it take 2-hands and adds minimum of 1 second to the firing time. It is the calculated risk I choose to take. I carry everyday and it is the standard I have chosen with small children.

Chris W. Langer III

Actually, there are a few ways to chamber a round using one hand.

Thomas Fess

Chris W. Langer III yep, you’re right and know a couple, Sights etc, but in general that is one of the down sides to an empty chamber, 2 hands and more time.

Vanessa Long-Beckman

Great tips! Would love to see more

Kristina Larsen

Excellent tips thank u

Troy Martens

I like the tips. Thanks.

Lori Osborne Gilbert

Liked ir

Jesse Durland

really liked this … please do more

Donnie Thorpe

Great tips. More please

Michelle Thomas Van Dolah

Thanks for the tips. I would like to hear some for us that prefer revolvers as their cc.

Deanna Pickman

Great tips! Thanks for posting!

Theresa Kneebone

very helpful tips..would like to see more

YaYa Gypsy

Great tips!! Thank you!!

Grant Hoekstra

Dry fire. Dry fire. Dry fire.

Robert Braaten-Grant

In states that limit your rounds to 10…..You basically just use the largest caliber you can get in the smallest gun.

Steven Singer

Great Video, While in NJ i can’t carry I find this very informative. thank you

Daryl Kuszak

Good tips.

Daniel Hartman

MORE!!!

timmy

excellent tips. keep them coming. you can never learn too much.

Hillbilly

Tips and reminders are always worth listening to, especially for an old guy that forgets. Keep em comen!!

Susan Sullivan

Great advice. . Loved it

Sam

Great video for those who have been carrying for a while and for those who are new to it. The only thing I noticed is at the being of the video when you went to re-holster you curled you trigger finger up as you holstered your pistol. Maybe it is the instructor in me. That is a bad habit to get into. I’ve seen on more than once people have a ND because of that. That is my two cent.

Frank Mahoney

Always find this information useful. Thanks for the updates!

ricks2524

Good info. Thanks for the tips

fire medic

I carry daily, a Springfield XDM, sometimes openly sometimes concealed, depends on the clothes I’m wearing that day. I have been carrying for about 5 years now and have always carried one in chamber plus full mag, plus full mag in pocket, like it is said you never know if there will be more than one attacker and as far as I’m concerned I’ll do everything possible to prevent my little girl from getting hurt. They do make a ton of holsters to carry a larger weapon comfortably and concealed. Just my experience thought I’d share

Robert Nagle

For Christ’s sake… Really? I carry a Smith J-Frame, 5 rounds of .357.. Do you actually expect to be attacked by six or seven miscreants? That’s ridiculous. Shoot one and I warrant the rest will run like rabbits. WTF world do you see? Do you really think that you’re going to need 40 rounds of 9mm as a private citizen? Maybe I’m sheltered and people are going to be breaking into my backyard and I’ll have to apologize. I doubt it. When was the last time you heard of someone being attacked in a swing? Goodness, it’s not that scary a world, unless you’re a professional victim. Please inform me of the time that a private citizen had to reload, I’ve missed it in the news.

J Stephen

Buy a single shot pistol since there’s no need to carry enough to defend yourself from the unlikely 5 person attack. LoL

your mama

By the sounds of you you’ll miss all 5 times. If someone comes at you armed you’ll be sad when you run out

blubaljim

He won’t be sad, more like his azz will be sucking on a putty ball down at the undertakers.

MistaMac

Since when do wolvess hunt alone? Where I come from they come in minimum numbers of 3 Sometimes up to 8 in extreme cases. “Shoot one and the rest will run” is a dangerouse statement to make, in some cases yes but for most criminals the reward is greater than the risk. Out here criminals comes when you least expect it, while relaxing on the couch, after people leaves your house after a party and even while you sleep I dont know about you but I wont be cought with my pants down (by suprise is usually the case). Last week a mom and her 19 year old son was attacked on their farm (the dad passed away to an earlier farm attack about 6 months prior). They had friends over and they just left, while laying in bed 8pm, 3 asailents came through a window armed with a hammer, knive and a firearm. Bashed the kids door down and started beating him, mom heard the noise and started shouting asking if all was okay, the criminals leave him and went for the mom, it gave him a few seconds to GET HIS GUN FROM THE SAFE. The end of the story is one criminal dead, one wounded and one got away and the kid sustained mulipal fractures and stab wounds. The moral of the story, be prepared, anything can happen at any time. I carry from the moment I get up in the mornings to the time I go to bed, and even then my firearm is within arms reach.

real world

I just saw a news video where a man was attacked by a mob of ppl and he was beaten badly and his wife and baby girl were there in car which was damaged, you never know what can happen, better to be prepare than not.. . ppl should be. allow to carry what they want…. just because you don’t hear about it in the main stream media doesn’t mean it doesn’t ands wouldn’t happen… If all you want or need is 5 rounds good for you but everyone is different or have different preferences… thank you that’s all

Jack

Always better to have it and not need it then to need it and not have it.

milehisnk

Do I really think I’m going to NEED it? No. But what happens if, for some reason, my first mag, after the first shot, won’t feed? I’m not at a range so I can’t just sit down, disassemble the gun and find the issue. It’s easier to just drop the full mag and swap it for a fresh one
Yes, there’s 100s of circumstances where you can’t do that either, but the likelihood of ever being attacked is already fractionally low as it is. If the world isn’t scary enough to carry a spare magazine (or in yoru case a speed loader), then why carry a firearm at all?

If something is worth doing, it’s worth over-doing.

Jonathan Moe

Good video, keep them coming!

Art Puls

Full mag, 1 in the pipe, spare mag….all the time.

Patrick M Connors

Excellent thanks!

705bacon

I’m a CA native (we don’t all believe in gun control), I carry 15 +1, semiauto always and everywhere. At work, I have over 60 rounds on me. Off work, 31 rounds. Be a Sheepdog, not a sheep. You never know when the wolves will attack. Be prepared. If you can legally defend yourself and shoot them once, keep shooting until the threat is stopped. Clean and functional weapon is a priority. If you have a dirty gun, partial magazine, or can’t adequately use a firearm, you might as well have a club. As for the “Guest” that is only going to shoot once, ‘one shot one kill’ is great in theory, but the bad guy rarely goes down immediately and stays down.

Jack

If you carry 15 in a mag in California it is supposedly illegal, you are only allowed 10 and that includes 1 in the chamber. I say supposedly because any gun law in un-Constitutional and therefore illegal. The Bill of Rights being part of the Constitution means that it is the Supreme Law of the Land. Just because they have twisted it to allow States to make their own Laws doesn’t mean they are actually Legal Laws.

Michael R

It might be a grandfathered magazine.

Glock made a lot of money selling those from 94-2004.

Irene

I am going to disagree with the comment that says this is not such an ugly world. It is Uglier than many would like to admit.
Let’s says that you are such an incredible shooter that even under stress you don’t miss a shot. You carry a 6 or 7 rounds handgun, no extra round in the chamber and no extra mags. 3 people attack you. Now, statistics say it takes an average or 3 shots to stop an attacker. You have 2 guys down and maybe one hurt. But we know one shot doesn’t necessarily stop someone and not every shoot you fire will cause maximum damage. So what do you do now? Add to the situation that it might be dark and you might miss a couple shots or that you might have dropped your glasses and can’t see very well. So many facts can affect the outcome of a lethal encounter.
I always, always have an extra round on the chamber. My gun is always loaded at full capacity. When it comes down to a “you” or “me” situation I’ll fight till the end so it won’t be me.
How many cases of people being attacked by 4 or 5 assailants we see everyday. How many women rapped by 5 or 6 men. How many cases of more than 2 robbers breaking into a home. Yes, it’s a horrible world out there and you can’t assume they’ll run as soon as you start shooting.
Don’t forget that quality ammo is another important thing to consider when carrying. Buying the right ammo can make the difference. I personally carry a short barrel gun so I only buy ammo that is designed to not lose speed and maximize penetration and expansion in order to cause maximum damage possible.

blubaljim

I carry a Kimber Custom Carry full size 1911, eight in the mag, one in the spout, cocked and locked in a Galco “Miami” style horizontal cross draw shoulder rig with double magazine pouch, both fully loaded, under the right arm. Unless I’m sneak attacked from behind I pity the poor old stupid sob that thinks he wants to give me a go.

Dave

Crossdraw sometimes allows for your attacker to pin your arm as you draw if they’re close enough, just FYI.

blubaljim

I can’t disagree with that, but there are about a hundred and one other possibilities that can hamper your draw as well. If I absolutely have to I CAN remove it with my left hand. Already practiced the maneuver over and over, that being the particular reason for choosing a horizontal rig. Not to mention the fact that I have plenty of up close and personal combat experience to go with it, coupled with an ambidextrous safety, if he doesn’t disable both my arms, he’s still going to take an early dirt nap real quick like

Will Leigh

Let’s take the ever popular appendix IWB carry…

I’m an assailant. I manage to surprise you and get close. You go to draw your weapon. I notice quickly and pin your arm, preventing you from having access to your weapon. In a swift motion, I reach down to your weapon and pull the trigger. If you’re extremely lucky, the round passes through to the ground, missing everything. If you’re merely lucky, the round hits the boys. If you’re unlucky, the round passes deep into your femur, tearing your leg up and increasing the chance of the round hitting the Femoral Artery. In all but the first one (and no one’s that lucky), you’re down. I finish my business quickly and leave you to bleed. This very scenario happened to a friend of mine (he was merely lucky).

Every carry technique has it’s pros and cons. The important thing is that someone finds the CT that works for them.

bill odd

I was surprised that my Charter Arms Bulldog .44 revolver would not fire while pointed straight up. The heavy .44 rounds would rest against the recoil shield and when the hammer fell, the firing pin would have to lift the heavy round up until it was stopped by the case rim against the cylinder. The primer-popping power had been used up lifting the round and the primers barely showed a tiny dent. Moral: It may seem unusual, but try shooting while laying on your back. It could happen.

Really informative, its a very positive thing to have little tutorials like this on a variety of firearms, ammo, tactics, law and 2nd amendment topics. Thanks to all at LG!!

Denny Magic

I am hoping to petition my local Police to acquire a concealed carry permit here in Gilroy, California. My next door neighbor took time to share some things with me (he’s a sheriff) and he said due to my handicap and age, “You might” be able to talk the local police chief into issuing you one, but “Not Likely”.

adam

Ah, the joys of a “may issue” state.

Rodney

Great stuff! Would love to see more

Ron

Most gun fights occur withing seven feet. I’m not going to miss at seven feet, I don’t care how much adrenalin is pumping into my blood. If there’s two of them there won’t be time to shove in that spare magazine, so my most intensive practice is making sure the first two rounds go into that seven inch circle between the tits. BTW, my everyday carry is a Glock 43 with Hornady hollowpoints.

hasottee

I carry a Ruger .38 special. I am 5’4″ tall, short-waisted, and “chunky”. Most holsters do not fit my body type or allow an easy draw. My favorite solution is to purchase mens’ jeans a couple of sizes larger than necessary, to ensure they ride loosely around the top of my hips, and slide my holstered .38 into the front, right pocket. The pockets of mens’ jeans are larger and deeper than pockets of womens’ jeans, and the gun is unobtrusive. Even the shorts work well. Of course, drawing from a seated position is difficult–but if the jeans are sufficiently loose, it is not impossible.

http://113tidbits.com/ tony greene

I agree with all of your CC tips. My only problem is not having the range available to me to draw from the holster and then fire. I do however practice my draw from the hip as in a confined space.